Franklin County Sheriff Harry Berkemer told a reporter from the Columbus Dispatch that his deputies witnessed an extraordinary feat of strength and endurance when Milligan was in the personality of Ragen. Ragen had been taken to the prisoner recreation area, and he chose to punch a large body bag. “He hit it hard for nineteen and a half minutes straight,” Berkemer said. ‘An average man can’t hit it for more than three minutes straight without becoming exhausted. He hit it so hard we thought he had perhaps broken an arm, and took him to a doctor to have him checked out.” But Ragen had not hurt himself.

On October 24, Judge Flowers again ordered Southwest Community Mental Health Center to examine Milligan and submit a report on his competency to stand trial. Dr. George Harding, Jr., could, at his discretion, attend the defendant. The judge also ordered Milligan immediately transferred from prison to the Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital.

On November 15, Marion J. Koloski, director of the Court Assistance Program of Southwest’s Forensic Psychiatric Center, reported that when Dr. Stella Karolin and Dorothy Turner last saw him, they had found Milligan competent to stand trial and capable of assisting his attorney in his defense, but added: “His mental condition is viewed as being very fragile, however, and it is possible that at any given time there could be a disintegration of the present fused personality into the dissociated personalities which have been evidenced previously.”

On November 29, the Dayton Daily News and the Columbus Dispatch published Chalmer Milligan’s denials of the widely circulated report that he had sexually abused his stepson. The following Associated Press story appeared in the Columbus Dispatch:

Stepfather Says He Didn’t Abuse Young Milligan Chalmers [sic] Milligan says he has become “very upset” by published reports that he physically and sexually abused his stepson William S. Milligan, whom doctors say has 10 personalities.

“Nobody has talked to me,” complains Milligan, who asserts the abuse claims by his stepson are “completely false. …”

According to a report signed by Dr. George T. Harding, the psychiatrists also concluded that Milligan exhibited multiple personality behavior and that he had personalities unaware of the actions of others. They blamed his condition partly on abuse he suffered as a child…

Chalmer Milligan said he has suffered considerable hardship as a result of the published reports.

“You always have the misunderstanding bunch. It’s very upsetting,” he said.

He said he particularly was upset by published accounts that failed to attribute the abuse claim to William or the psychiatrists.

“It all goes back to the boy,” Milligan said. “All they’re (the publications) doing is repeating what they (the psychiatrists and young Milligan) said,” he added.

He would not say whether he planned any legal action regarding the abuse claims.

Feeling increasingly confident that Billy would be found not guilty by reason of insanity, Judy and Gary realized there was still another hurdle. Up to this time, all such verdicts resulted in the defendant being sent to Lima. But within three days, on December 1, a new Ohio law dealing with mentally ill patients would go into effect, requiring that someone found not guilty by reason of insanity be treated as a mentally ill patient and not as a criminal. The new law would require that he be sent to the least restrictive environment consistent with safety to himself and others, and his commitment to a state mental institution would come under the jurisdiction of the probate court.